Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to say that in the cases in my experience where the government has had to make an exception to a policy have been driven by competing objectives where we have more than one objective. In the case that the Member is referring to, it has to do with the need for affordable, adequate housing in communities as opposed to ensuring maximum northern benefits. Which one is going to be weighed more highly? We often, Mr. Speaker, make exceptions in another area. Another area as an example is on negotiated contracts. We have a policy on tendering everything and putting it out and advertising it, but we often have negotiated contracts. Again, we have an objective there: a northern benefit, a local benefit versus getting the best price.
Mr. Speaker, the reason we have policies is that we need to have some direction. We want to give the public clear direction of how we're functioning as a government. At the same time, we don't give a policy the same sort of stature we would have to a law, for example. If we don't want to make exceptions to it, then make it into a law. If we want to leave ourselves some flexibility on competing objectives, keep it as a policy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.